Mr Kelly joins Mr Telly for Coro
We invited readers to send questions to John Kelly, TVNZ’s General Manager Of Programming, about the changes to Coronation Street. Look out for more next week. – Mr Telly
I am not that pleased about the changes to Coro. It is going to create confusion especially if TVNZ is going to screen the Coro we are seeing during the day, then the up-to-date ones during the evening. Why could they not have just given us catch-ups. That would have been more sense, just like it did for Emmerdale. I just hope TVNZ doesn’t muck around with Coro.
Karen Morrow (Gisborne)
John Kelly replies: Unfortunately we were not able to give any more of the prime-time schedule to Coronation Street. Although you and a lot of other people would love to see more of the show we do need to balance that with fans of our other programmes. We looked at a number of scheduling options and while the choice we’ve gone with may not be your pick, it was by far and away the preferred option for most of the people we talked to. As for mucking around with Coro, we really want to keep it in its regular timeslot as much as possible.
As a long-time (decades!) viewer of Coro Street, what assurance can John Kelly give me concerning the promised weekday catch-ups. I would certainly prefer to stick with the existing storyline rather than suffer a two-hour condensed version to help ease TVNZ’s conscience about the way their loyal Coro viewers have been treated. However the cynic in me suggests that at the end of the winter – when possibly the daily catch-ups have still not spanned the 18-month period we are behind – TVNZ is likely to announce that the new season of viewing will no longer be covering the catch-ups and simply carry on from the point at which the evening slots will have progressed to. I do not want to watch storylines at the point I am in catch-up mode.
Linda Irwin (Wellington)
JK replies: You have my assurance that we will run all the episodes from the 18 months, followed by the episodes running in prime time until the catch-up is complete.
In the TV Guide, John Kelly says TVNZ is “committed to the show and we want it to do well”. If this is true, why not screen Coro in primetime each weeknight at 7.30pm like it used to be? Would you ever screen Coronation Street at 7.30pm?
Committed viewer (Christchurch)
JK replies: Never say never. The whole point of this move is to secure a bright future for Coronation Street. Currently it is doing very well at 9.30pm and if the audience grows further then we could look to move it earlier.